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Barcelona here we come! My friends and I went to Barcelona over Easter weekend. Some of us arrived Thursday afternoon and immediately checked into our hostel. We were pleasantly surprised at how clean it was. We were also met with good and ba d news. The good: teams participating in a local football (soccer) tournament were staying in the same place. The bad: the league was for 12-year-olds. For your information, 12-year-old soccer players have a LOT of energy and are extremely loud. To get away from the noise (and feed our grumbling tummies) we headed to a tapas restaurant right around the corner where we had the best meal of the weekend.  Tapas are delicious little appetizers that I cannot get enough of. When we got back we found out that our hostel offered a deal where they had someone take you out that night, so we thought it would be a great way to see good parts of the city and jumped right on that!

The next day the rest of our friends arrived. There ended up being nine of us total. We headed to the beach to find somewhere different to eat dinner. I wanted to eat paella, which is a rice dish with seafood traditionally served in Spain, so we staked out places with it on the menu (for a decent price) along with a variation of other items. That’s what I wanted so I ordered it even with the scary looking heads of some kind of sea creature on top. It was definitely scary, and I was not a huge fan. We played some volleyball on the beach after dinner and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for salsa dancing!

Saturday we went to Las Ramblas which is a huge street leading down to the beach lined with open air markets, stalls filled with all kinds of goodies, and restaurants. Everything was absolutely gorgeous! We also joined a free walking tour of the gothic quarter of the city It was really cool to be right in the heart of so many cool pieces of history–we sat on the steps where Christopher Columbus informed the King and Queen of Spain that he had found the new world! For dinner we went back to the same tapas place we went the first night. Every one of us let our eyes get way bigger than our stomachs; some of my friends ordered four tapas plates to themselves!

On Easter Sunday we went to mass right down the street. It was a Catalonian mass, but most of my friends and I are Catholic so we could still tell what was going on for the most part. That language barrier was something we struggled with the entire trip. We all thought that by going to Spain our high school Spanish would help us get around. Unfortunately the people in Barcelona speak Catalan, not Spanish. Talk about a culture shock. But with it being Easter and most places being closed we spent the day on the beach and walking around checking out the scenery. Definitely not a typical Easter, but one I’ll remember forever.

Easter on the Beach

Monday morning most of my friends went home to London, but four of us stayed another day. We looked at a lot of Gaudi architecture, including La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. Let me tell you, if you’ve never heard of Gaudi you should look up his buildings right now because they are so unique you will never want to take your eyes off of them. I can’t believe how long they have been building La Sagrada Familia and it isn’t even finished yet! The detail is absolutely incredible! I’ve loved his architecture since I first heard about it in high school, and am so glad I got to spend an entire day just marveling at how amazing his work is. That night we went saw some awesome views of the city and then called it a night pretty early.

Sagrada Familia

My last day in Barcelona I spent on the beach. It was kind of cold there, so it wasn’t the summer beach weather I was expecting but it was perfect to just be there reading in the sun. I loved Barcelona, but getting so close to the end of the semester I was definitely ready to get back to London and spend as much time seeing as much more of the city as possible!

Next time … last post from London!

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Spring Break, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Okay, so it was more of a love/hate relationship. It started out spectacularly and then ended on a rather sour note.

We left on March 30 for Budapest, Hungary. It was beautiful there!! BEAUTIFUL, I tell you. The history was all rather fascinating. The group I travelled with went to the Terror Museum. Don’t get any ideas, friends. I’m still terrified of scary movies; this museum was about the reign of terror in post-WWII Hungary. Needless to say, most Hungarians probably hate Russia. (Well, most of Eastern Europe probably hates Russia.)

Budapest

After Budapest, we flew to Brussels, and immediately went to Paris. Probably the first and last time I will be on a first class car on a train. It was wonderful: free WiFi, free food and super comfy seats. In Paris, I’m pretty positive that I hyperextended my right arm. (In fact, today is April 26 and my arms are still kind of numb. That can’t be good, can it?)

And I pretty much dislike Paris. I’m not big into French (finally figured out it is because their language doesn’t sound angry. I like my angry sounding languages: German, Russian, etc.) and I also wasn’t completely stunned by things like the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty, and it was tall. I was more fascinated with Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of me with a cancan dancer, because Moulin Rouge tickets were like €100, so that was super out of my budget. I did enjoy quite a few crepes, but I didn’t try any escargot.

The palace of Versailles, near Paris.

After Paris, we went to Brussels, and stayed for two days. SO MANY FRIES AND WAFFLES!! (Side note: French fries are not, in fact, French, but Belgian.) It was nice, but by this time, I wasn’t happy with the people I travelled with and was ready to apparate to America (or even back to Salzburg).

Amsterdam. I want to go back to Amsterdam. We only spent a day there, and it was a cold and gross day, so for a city that the author John Green seems to adore, I either can’t see it, or wasn’t there long enough to absorb the awesome that resides there. I tried to go to the Anne Frank house, but the line literally wrapped around the building … way too much of a wait. Plus, as I mentioned, I was freezing.

On Easter Sunday, we flew from Amsterdam to Rome, where the city proceeded to mess with us for the entire trip. We were tired and exhausted of traveling, plus it got down into the high 30s, low 40s, and we were staying in camping villa. That’s right, friends, I went camping. Sort of.

I still saw all the classic sights: Roman Forum, the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, etc. I was super excited to see the Vestal Virgins (which, if you’ve read Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, you’d understand). AND THERE WAS SO MUCH GELATO!!

The Coliseum

The last day of Rome, we were going to take a train to Florence. I have been in love with Tuscany ever since watching Under the Tuscan Sun when I was like…12. Unfortunately, Rome just did not want me to fully enjoy Tuscany. We missed the first train we could take to Florence; the second train was missed because a Gypsy stole the phone of the one of the girls I was traveling with, and finally, we got to go to Florence. We enjoyed maybe three or four hours of sunlight, but never fear, it was GORGEOUS! I really want to go back!

New friends!

Next time … back to Salzburg, plus Prague!

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Well, I’m officially 21, but before you freak out, People At School, I had a test at 8:30 the morning after my birthday, so not a lot actually happened. I finally figured out what I’m doing for Spring Break, so be prepared for some EPIC pictures!

Now, as of my last blog post, I said I was going to discuss my travel plans, but I don’t want you all getting too jealous, okay? (This means you, Joey.)

First off, we have a two-week Spring Break (or Easter Break as it’s called here) and it officially starts on April 2, but a lot of us are actually leaving on March 30, when four friends and I will travel to Budapest, Hungary. From there, we have a flight to Brussels (Belgium), and we’ll take a train from there to Paris. PARIS!! I’m so excited about going to the Moulin Rouge!!

On April 3, we’ll go back to Brussels to hang there for a day or so until we head by train to Amsterdam, where we’ll wait until our flight to Rome on April 8. As of right now, details are still iffy, but we’re kind of crazy for flying into Rome on Easter Sunday. Okay, I believe crazy may be an understatement.

We’ll  be in Rome for a few days, then go to Florence before we finishing our week in Italy in Verona, on our way back to Salzburg. (Just FYI, I’m planning on going to Venice this weekend – March 24.)

I’m starting to really miss home, but I’m also becoming more comfortable using the train system. This happens when you have to travel to Munich by yourself. (But really, it’s no big deal. Two hours on a train is do-able). My birthday was really hard because I got a package from my mom that included a card that sang “In My Daughter’s Eyes” by Martina McBride, and I won’t lie when I say that I started crying hardcore. At least I was in my room, right?

But regardless, I’m SUPER excited about my break, and I can’t wait to have gelato in Italy!! (Really, I mean, YoLo, you’re good and everything, but you aren’t Italy.)

If I’ve managed to walk off quite a few pounds, I feel like I’ll put them all back on in Italy.

Here are a couple photos from recent adventures:

Krystina and friends at the opera in Vienna.

Krystina in front of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

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I’ve also been traveling. My roommate Rebekah and I went on this tour with Andreas (our cultural coordinator/director/person/thing) and five more of our fellow program attendees to Berchtesgarden and the Lake District (Salzkammergut). Berchtesgarden is near where Hitler’s second base was located (after Berlin, of course), and his main area, the Eagle’s Nest, is still there. It was kind of cool, but I would like to go back and actually see the Eagle’s Nest. Right now there is just too much snow for anyone to trek up the mountain to see it.

Because we went to Berchtesgarden, we had to journey into Germany. You’d think that driving into another country would be a big deal, but it was no bigger than driving across the Ohio River into Evansville.

The Von Trapp family villa.

I can’t wait to go places. Salzburg is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, but I didn’t come here just to be in Salzburg! I want to travel! Verona, Italy, (the location of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) is only a few hours away by train. (Okay, so more like 6-7, but still. That’s a weekend trip, right there).

A bunch of people have already started planning their Spring Break trips, but I haven’t the foggiest idea where to go. I’m tempted to pack my backpack full of clothes, buy a train ticket to the first place I see (and can afford) and just go. Backpack around Europe for a week or so, and then come back and ‘recover.’ But nothing is set in stone.

Oh! Fasching! Fasching is what the Germans celebrate instead of Mardi Gras; it’s been described to me as the German Halloween (because it wasn’t until about 10-12 years ago that the German-speaking people even began celebrating Halloween). I dressed up as a zombie, and my friend Allison dressed up as a “pretty pretty princess” (her words, not mine) and we went out. It was a lot of fun, plus I met Gandalf, as well as some very interesting characters.

Kinda fuzzy, but this is Krystina and her friend Allison with a group of Italians they met at Fasching.

It’s beginning to be difficult to be away from home. It feels like I’ve been gone for at least a month, and I’ve only just started my third week here. By the time May rolls around, who knows how long it’ll feel like I’ve been here.

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February 24, 2012

At M&M World.

I wasn’t lying when I said I was glad I didn’t spend the money on the Paris trip, but I was pretty jealous of all my friends traveling while I stayed at home. So almost immediately, I began booking trips that I had only been talking about up to that point. A few weeks ago a group of ten of us booked a trip to Barcelona over Easter weekend, so I already had some experience with finding what seem like decent, cheap places to stay and forms of travel. I’ll be in Barcelona from April 5-10 over our Easter Break and I cannot wait to be someplace warm and sunny!

My roommate, Lauren, and another friend Kayla and I decided to go to Amsterdam and booked our seats on the Eurostar. We haven’t yet decided where we are going to stay but we have some options in mind. Those tickets are booked for the weekend of February 25.

I also booked a trip to Dublin, Ireland for a few days over Spring Break for my sister, cousin and me. They are coming to visit for the entire week, leaving on St. Patricks Day. Unfortunately since they leave that day from London we couldn’t spend it in Ireland, but I have heard many times that St. Patty’s Day in Dublin is pretty much a tourist trap. Instead, we opted to visit the city from Monday-Wednesday during Spring Break. This way we can see some of the festivities without paying the holiday flight and hostel prices. Now if I can just find someone to go with me to Prague, my goals for the semester will be set!

Had to get the picture in the phone booth.

As great as everything is here, I did start to get a little homesick a few days ago. Even though I’ve lived in Owensboro two hours away from home for the last two-and-a-half years I always managed to make it home at least once a month, even if it was only for a few hours to pick something up. I also spent winter break this year in Arkansas for an internship, so until May I will not have been home for more than a few days since August.

I’m not wishing my time here away, or saying that it isn’t fabulous, but I think it hit me exactly how important my family and friends are. Not being able to call them whenever I want (go-phone problems) is really, really hard. But even with all of that said, one of my precious four months has gone by much faster than I thought it would, and I can’t decide what speed I would like the other three to pass at. I am sure they will go by very fast and I will look back on this wishing it lasted longer.

Right now, it’d be nice to see my old Kentucky home for a few days but I’ve got enough packed into the next few weeks to surely take my mind off of it!!

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February 14, 2012

So we have all begun to settle down into a routine. My classes are going really fantastically, and my schedule is even better. No class on Tuesdays and Fridays! I don’t think I could pick my favorite class if I had to. History of London has been great because every Wednesday we visit a different museum or area of town. This has helped me see so many different parts of the city already and there are so many places we are going that I cannot wait for! Tomorrow we are going to the Tower of London to see the crown jewels, and as a silly girl I cannot wait for this.

Sometimes it can be a little difficult getting to all of these places–some of them are an hour away on the tube. I can for sure say I did not expect two hours roundtrip of travel on my expense every week. And trust me, the tube is more expensive than you would think – those trips add up!

My Mainstream Film Studies class is probably the most thought provoking class I have ever taken. Every movie we watch has so many different theories attached to it that I never would have pulled out of my mind, and it is incredibly interesting to hear opinions from kids across the globe, especially when these theories usually concern the United States. My other classes are Photography and Political Communication (which can get a little heated with so many different nationalities in the room).

Along with routine comes repetition. My friends and I are always looking for a new restaurant or pub to try out. There are some great places very close by that are quick, easy choices for dinner or to hang out at for awhile. These places are very convenient, but we are trying to experience new places and things. Our meal plan only covers breakfast and dinner Monday-Friday and we don’t have kitchen facilities, so on the weekends we are forced to eat out somewhere. Finding new places can be hit-or-miss but some of my best meals here have been at places we walked into randomly.

We’ve also visited many museums, in an attempt to become more cultured, including the British National, Museum of London, Museum of London-Docklands, and the Victoria & Albert. We also got swept up into a giant celebration for New Zealand day, where people wore outrageous costumes and rushed to Westminster to see a traditional dance called the haka performed. It was quite humorous watching these people who were dressed so ridiculously fill up one of the most prim and proper areas of London.

A crowd gathered near Westminster Abbey for New Zealand Day.

This past weekend most of my friends went on a school-sponsored trip to Paris. Seeing as I just visited Paris in August, I opted out of paying the $400 in order to spend it elsewhere. They had a fantastic time, but I am glad I did not go because they saw mainly the same things I saw just a few months ago and apparently it was freezing. London has been pretty cold, but not anywhere near as bad as the rest of Europe.

This left my friend Nick and I to do some exploring of our own over the weekend. We had an eventful Friday night with some other students so our tired selves took it somewhat easy on Saturday and went to Borough Market and outdoor market with vendors that sell almost anything you could imagine. We sampled cheeses and jams and bought two of the most amazing grilled cheese and scallion sandwiches I have ever had. That will definitely be someplace I plan on taking my mom and sister when they visit! After leaving the market we warmed up with tea in a small cafe and called it a day.

Chelsea and her friend Nick take advantage of the interactive art in the Victoria and Albert museum.

Next time … travel plans!

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As Chelsea said in her blog, when people talk about study abroad, they never tell you just how hard it is. Granted, I never had extremely long layovers or anything, but I’m pretty sure I pulled a muscle dragging luggage around.

I arrived in London Heathrow at 6:45 in the morning on February 4. I spent two wonderful days in London where I got to go to Platform 9 ¾ AND I found the TARDIS. Sadly, I couldn’t find the Doctor anywhere, but never fear, I shouted for him. (I hope you get these references. If you don’t, you should definitely look them up.)

Platform 9 3/4.

Now, as I type this, I’m sitting in my dorm room (or as they prefer for us to call them, residence halls) in Salzburg. It’s very, very, very cold and has not stopped snowing since we came from Munich.  Of course, despite the cold, it makes for very pretty pictures.

Salzburg in the snow.

We moved into our dorms yesterday, and I live in a building connected to and run by the Catholic church. It’s called Institut St. Sebastian, and is pretty close to a lot of the shops. There’s a really good Italian restaurant just down the street. I pretty much have failed at trying Austrian food. I know I’ve only been here for two days, but I’ve eaten Italian one day and a Butter Schinken and Gouda sandwich, which was pretty good.

Shopping in Austria is way different. You have to buy your own bags to carry groceries home, so next time I’m taking my backpack.

Today, I had orientation, and afterwards, we went on a city tour. Apparently, a tour of Salzburg includes the mountain next to it L. My legs hurt so bad, and I was so not prepared for that hike. I totally broke down in tears on my way up (but I honestly don’t know if that was from the pain or from homesickness, or maybe a bit of both). HOWEVER, I totally made it up there. And I will go back again and again until I can walk up that mountain without my legs hurting. That’s one of my many goals for this semester.

My other goal is to learn as much German as possible. We’ll see how that one goes too.

Tschüss!

Krystina

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It’s kind of odd the different things that can happen in our lives that inspire us to do other things. When I was in elementary school, I picked up a rather famous book series (though it wasn’t nearly as popular or even complete, at that point) called Harry Potter. I have wanted to go to Europe since then, and I got my chance in January 2011, when I went on a Winter Term trip to London, studying The Tudors (one of the best decisions of my life). The trip really only made me want to see more.

I decided when I got back that I was going to study abroad for a longer period of time. My friend from high school went to Greece and said it was one of the best experiences she’d ever had. She told me that she was applying for the Harlaxton program in the Spring of 2011; I wanted to go so badly, but thanks to procrastination, I missed the school’s deadline for study abroad grants and such. I still wanted to go, so I began looking around for other programs.

I had heard of the American Institute for Foreign Study before (they came to KWC once or twice), and I went to see what kind of programs they offered. I knew that because of my major I needed 12 hours of a foreign language and I was already taking German, so that was a big factor – only one program offered German.

So, here we are. I’m going to Austria for an entire semester through AIFS. I’m leaving in February and all I know at this point is that I’m terrified, excited and worried. But who wouldn’t be? I’m going to be in another country where they don’t speak English all the time. Oh … let’s hope nothing bad happens.

Herzliche Grüße,

Krystina

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Our first week has been hectic, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I own an oyster card (public transit reloadable card), and can successfully navigate the tube, or “chube” as I have been instructed to pronounce it. I also walk really fast now. I know the streets of Kensington well enough to get myself to anything I could possibly need, and many places I simply enjoy visiting.

I’ve had so many opportunities to become used to London, and many times where I’ve looked like a tourist. We had a bus tour planned the second day which took us to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, as well as many other places I was reaching for my camera to take pictures of. The school I attend has been fantastic about these trips; there were also opportunities to tour Westminster Abbey in tremendous detail, take a ride on the London Eye and take a Chelsea Football Club stadium tour.

Chelsea Football Club.

We have also had many things planned for our entertainment; we are supposed to have fun while we’re here aren’t we? We have been offered discounted theatre tickets, a Harry Potter walking tour (for dorks like me) and a Jack the Ripper walking tour. This isn’t to mention all of the evening activities our Resident Directors and Assistants have taken us on, providing us with new places in the city to show us and great ways for all of us STABS (study abroad students) to get to know each other. Among these activities the school rented a boat to sail down the River Thames for four hours on Friday night. This was something I will never forget. We rode past Big Ben, the London Eye, and under the Tower Bridge several times – each one was all lit up for the evening . Talk about some great pictures!

The London Eye.

Of course, we are here to study and learn something this semester. Classes started this week, almost right in sync with KWC. As far as I can tell the professors are excellent at combining challenge with interest. I have been intimidated by every syllabus I have received and yet look forward to every class I am taking. Balancing seeing the entire world on the weekends and 15 hours of class Monday through Thursday will be tough, but I am eager for this adventure to really take off.

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So I have been here for exactly one week and think I am starting to get things under control. My name is Chelsea Adams, and London is the biggest city I have ever spent more than one week in.

The last few weeks before I left for London were some of the most stressful weeks I have ever spent. Applying to study abroad is complicated enough, but getting things ready to leave is an entirely different story. Of course, no one tells you any of that. What they tell you is that “It will be the best four months of your life!” and “You can see the world!” and other fantastic things that make your eyes open wide and dreams pop into your head.

What they don’t tell you is that there is a TON of paperwork, waiting, making lists, pulling hair and printing copies – copies of EVERYTHING. That doesn’t even touch the packing. Any female who thinks they can take one 50-pound bag to a notoriously cold and wet city to live for four months is borderline insane (in my opinion). Needless to say, I thought I could do it and still ended up paying a whopping $75 for a second bag.

They also don’t tell you about how hard on the body one trip that involves a two hour car ride, three and a half hours in one airport, an hour and a half flight, a five hour layover, a seven hour flight, 30 minutes in line for customs, an hour bus ride, and a fifteen minute walk with two 50 lb. bags and two shoulder bags could possibly be. I am still sore and am not sure if it is getting any better.

One last thing they did not tell me was that no matter how you try to put it into words it is almost impossible to describe the feeling of stepping into one of the world’s most beautiful cities knowing you are about to have the time of your life. And that is exactly what makes it all worth it.

Chelsea (left) finds a Kappa Delta sister in front of the London Tower Bridge.

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